ACS News

ACS Council Preview

When the American Chemical Society Council meets next month in Anaheim, Calif., it will select candidates for 2005 ACS president-elect, choose members of various council committees, and have the opportunity to consider proposed changes to the society's governing documents--changes they may vote on in the fall. The council will also be asked to approve a rise of ACS membership dues from $120 to $123.

ACS councilors will choose two candidates for 2005 ACS president-elect from a field of four nominees, all professors of chemistry. The nominees are Edward M. Eyring, University of Utah; F. Sherwood Rowland, University of California, Irvine; Gary B. Schuster, Georgia Institute of Technology; and Isiah M. Warner, Louisiana State University. Nominees will make brief speeches to the council, which will then select two of the nominees to run as candidates for office in the general election this fall. In addition, candidates will be chosen for this fall's elections for ACS Board members from Districts II and IV.

Councilors will also vote to fill one vacancy each on the Committee on Committees and on the Committee on Nominations & Elections.

In its agenda, the council will also see three petitions to amend the society's bylaws. These petitions aim to make divisions' annual report deadlines consistent with local sections' deadlines, to expand the membership requirements so that precollege chemistry or allied science teachers may join the society, and to modify society election procedures to allow electronic balloting. Depending on the outcome of this meeting, any or all of these petitions may be considered for action at the Philadelphia national meeting in August.

The ACS Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 31, beginning at 8 AM, in the Hilton Anaheim, California Ballroom.--CORINNE MARASCO

Vivid Chemaginations Applauded

The ACS Office of Community Activities (OCA) has announced the winners of the 2003 national Chemagination science essay and poster contest. In the competition, high school students wrote an article and designed the cover for a hypothetical future edition of ChemMatters, describing an innovation (in one of four chemistry categories) that could impact the lives of teenagers 25 years from now. Winners at the regional level were judged on the content on their articles and a video oral defense of their project, with emphasis on a sound chemical basis for and adequate development of their ideas.

The winners are the following:

• Biotechnology: Eazy Eyez--Contact lenses that are dissolvable. Damascus High School, Damascus, Md. Elizabeth Barry, Nicole Corrado, and Amanda Harris, advised by Elena Pisciotta.

• Medicine/Healthcare: Sleep Smarter Not Harder--A study of sleep cycles for the purpose of perfecting sleep. North Springs High School, Atlanta. Simon Cartoon, Michael D. Moxley Jr., and Heather Post, advised by Sol Aboulafia.

• New Materials: Self-Healing Fabric--Fabric that, when it's ripped, seals the rip back up on its own. Damascus High School, Damascus, Md. Joe Crane, Brice Farrell, and Katie Goldstein, advised by Elena Pisciotta.

• Transportation/Environment: Algae + Bioethanol + Carbonal = 1 Xtreme Car--The invention of carbonal, which increases the vapor pressure of ethanol and helps reduce pollution. Albert Einstein High School, Kensington, Md. Daniel Mosier and Christopher Odell, advised by Ann Coren.

"The idea of Chemagination is such a great idea," says Michelle DeWitt, a member of the Committee on Community Activities who helped judge the national entries and an organic chemist at the environmental laboratory Prein & Newhos. "It requires creative writing from the students--thinking of science not just as mixing two chemicals but how it affects their daily lives. Many think of chemistry as somebody in the lab far away, not how it affects the car they're driving.

"And it's a very good learning opportunity," she adds. "The interaction with judges and other students on their team is a skill useful at the college level and beyond in the work world." The winning covers and articles can be found on OCA's Chemagination website at http://chemistry.org/chemagination.

The 2004 Chemagination contest is now in full swing; participating local sections hold local contests between February and April and sponsor the participation of finalists at the nearest regional meeting. Regional winners qualify to compete nationally. More information can be found on the Web or by contacting the chair of your ACS local section.

A presidential event on Sunday, Aug. 22, at the fall national meeting in Philadelphia will highlight the Middle Atlantic area's Chemagination contest.--AALOK MEHTA

ONLINE

Chemistry.org Gets Kid-Friendlier

LOOK AT THIS! Students at Poe Middle School check out ACS's new kid-friendly website and get a helping hand from Chemistry.org's Louise Voress. PHOTO BY SHARON WORTHY

It also contains the "Meg A. Mole, Future Chemist" series, which features visits to a new chemist each month. Meg has already "interviewed" Pamela Helms of Caldrea, who works on household cleaners and handcare products, and Kennedy Space Center's Martha Williams, who studies space insulation.

The site was officially unveiled to the public on Feb. 19 at Poe Middle School in Annandale, Va. ACS staff visiting the school guided students through the new website and held hands-on demonstrations relating to water.

The website is currently looking for volunteers to be participate in the Meg A. Mole series. E-mail Meg@acs.org for more information.--AALOK MEHTA